You have a million-dollar idea. You're ready to build it.
So, you contact a development agency. They listen for an hour, send you a vague quote with a massive price range, and ask for a 50% deposit to start.
This is the most terrifying moment for any founder or stakeholder. You're being asked to take a huge leap of faith—to sign a massive check based on a 60-minute conversation. This is where software projects fail before they even begin. They fail from a lack of shared understanding.
At Milantium, we’ve built our entire process to eliminate this gamble. We never start this way.
Our projects don't begin with a vague quote and a line of code. They begin with a Project Discovery Phase.
What is a Discovery Phase?
A Discovery Phase is a short, time-boxed, fixed-price engagement where our senior team embeds with yours. It’s not a sales pitch; it is the first, most critical part of the project.
The goal is simple: to "measure twice, cut once."
We move from "we have this big idea" to "we have a detailed blueprint." We collaboratively define exactly what we are building, why we are building it, and how we will build it. This is the ultimate de-risking tool.
Our Discovery Process: We Ask the Hard Questions
When you engage us for Discovery, we bring our senior-led team of architects and consultants to the table. For one or two weeks, we become your partners.
1. Stakeholder & User Interviews We don't just talk to the project sponsor. We talk to your sales team, your customer support reps, and your operations managers. We find out what they actually need to be successful. We map out the real-world user journeys, not just the ones on a whiteboard.
2. Technical & Architectural Audit Our senior architects analyze your existing systems. What tech stack are you on? Where is your technical debt? What are the security and scalability requirements? We then design a future-proof architecture that's built to last.
3. Collaborative Feature Prioritization We turn your "big idea" into a concrete, prioritized backlog. We use proven methods (like MoSCoW—Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, Won't-have) to define the scope for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This stops "scope creep" before it starts and ensures we're building the most valuable features first.
The Deliverable: Your Project Blueprint
At the end of the Discovery Phase, we don't just send you an email. We deliver a comprehensive Project Blueprint. This is a document you can build a business on.
It typically includes:
- A Detailed Scope Definition: A clear summary of the project's goals, non-goals, and success metrics.
- User Stories & Feature Backlog: A full list of prioritized features, written in plain English.
- A Technical Architecture Plan: A diagram and explanation of the recommended tech stack and system design.
- A High-Confidence Quote & Timeline: Because we've done the deep work, we can now give you a high-confidence, fixed-price quote or a very tight estimate for the full build.
No more guessing. No more vague promises. Just a clear, actionable plan.
Start Smart, Not Fast
The Discovery Phase is the single best investment you can make in your project. It’s the cheapest and fastest place to find a fatal flaw in your logic, to pivot to a better idea, or to gain the absolute confidence that your vision is the right one.
It’s the foundation of our role as your trusted advisor.
If you're ready to stop guessing and start building, contact us. Let's start with a Discovery Phase.